Monday, December 31, 2012

Christmas in Pictures

I've been working on my New Year's post in my head for a while now, and it's just not ready. I have so much to say but no energy for it at the moment.

This week has been amazing and crazy-making at the same time. The worst part -- I spent almost the entire last week in bed. My pain management doctor went on vacation without leaving anyone in charge to write refills for pain meds, and mine are too strong for just anyone to write. While that sucked on a royal level of suckage, it also gave me some opportunities I may not have had otherwise. I watched a ton of movies, read a lot of books (including reading "The Hobbit" to Zack and starting the Lord of the Rings trilogy), and crocheted a bunch of blankets and scarves. Pain will not keep me from staying busy on some level! And since pain kept me awake longer hours, I had more time in which to enjoy these things. Looking on the bright side helped.

Today I got my prescription filled and I'm taking advantage of being up to be with my family, but I'm stopping here for a quick photo view of the past month.

Around the middle of the month, we drove to visit my Dad. And what should my eye light upon first, as we walked in and gazed upon the tree?

Mr. Ray, as Zack calls his grandfather, got him the LEGO kit he had been wanting for ages. Every time I think SURELY we have all the LEGO Star Wars kits that could possibly be made, out comes another one!

Pretty soon those LEGO instruction books are going to be as large and complicated as my Organic Chemistry textbooks. They certainly cost as much!

After we got home, I opened packages to discover this ADORABLE present from Sherry Ellison of Creatology. Remember my random blog post about losing my marbles? Sherry is amazing with a needle and thread and made this cute fabric origami box and filled it with marbles (and included some extra ones in case I lose any more!)

One goal for this coming year? Holding on to my marbles.

Our Christmas was lovely. I only wish it had snowed! Santa brought Zack a keyboard with instructions to "share it with your Mommy". I wish we had room for a real piano, but now I can teach Zack how to play and eventually find a place to take advanced lessons myself. The highlight of the afternoon was being able to play the "Linus and Lucy" Charlie Brown theme.

(Did you notice the elf sitting where the sheet music goes?)

Rick and I give each other presents throughout the year since neither of us is very good at keeping secrets. I have actually lost some of the smaller presents I bought for the guys as I hid them TOO well. Their Christmas Eve tradition of opening an ornament was fouled up because the only ornament I could find was (thankfully) Zack's. I have NO IDEA where I hid those other ornaments. Or a few other small things.

ANYWAY, because we give each other presents during the year, Christmas is not a huge deal between Rick and I for giving gifts to each other -- it's all about the boys. But he never ceases to surprise and amaze me. My favorite gift this year, I think, was a new addition to my vintage camera collection. He gave me a miniature/spy camera and film to go with it. It's only about 3" long and I ADORE it.

He also scored a deal on a bunch of vintage typewriter ribbon tins. While I collect typewriters, I have four adult and three toy ones and there's just not much room for any more, but there's always room for a cool tin! Remember me showing you this pink Panama ribbon tin some time ago?

Now I have an orange one! I don't know why I love vintage tins of all different sorts, but I do, and this year I'm going to have to figure out how to build a case to display them properly.

And lastly, we got a family gift of Trivial Pursuit. Whenever the older boys come home, playing games, particularly Trivial Pursuit, is high on the list of must-dos. Between Ebay and finding them in stores, we now have every edition of the game. We even bought the kid's version so Zack can play with us more easily.

So here we are, on New Year's Eve, and I'm looking forward to tonight's game. I'm hoping to be able to sum up my thoughts of the past year and hopes for the coming year soon, and I hope they come out cogently and with the right expression.

Thank you all so VERY much for visiting, reading, commenting, and emailing me this year. All of those things were an incredible gift.

Boy do I understand the pain situation, especially the past two days! I ended up going over to my boyfriend's parents house (all 4 people smoke indoors) and it really threw me for a loop on top of the fact that I had already ate a wee bit bad that day and overdid it shopping.

I'm definitely paying for it, that's for sure o.O

At least you were able to make the most of your time and you have your medication back to help manage things!

It sounds like you and the boys had a lovely holiday with all sorts of neat things to keep you busy! :)

Oh no, I'm sorry you were feeling poorly last weekend, though I'm glad you finally got the meds you need now.

Thanks for taking us along for your Christmas in pictures. It sounds like it was a good one. My husband and I don't exchage gifts any more as we have everything we need it seems, unless you count the two new camera lenses he bought, on for him and one for me. Yikes, when I saw the charge on the credit card I nearly fainted!

Like you, I've been trying to put together my New Year's post, but I can't quite articulate my feelings. I'll let it stew for a while.

I'm so glad you got your prescription and are feeling a little better. It looks like Zack had a fab Christmas. I'm sure you'll find those other gifts soon. My mom's done the same thing before too and it's kinda cool to receive an unexpected gift later in the year. No worries. Best wishes for a wonderful, pain-free year. {HUGS} to you, the amazing person you are.

Happy New Year and I do hope you are on the road to feeling much better. Love those amazing Lego's and how excellent Zack is with putting them together. Music is very soothing and having a keyboard is very fun. You are welcome for the keeper of the marbles. Blessings with Peace and Joy for all of 2013...

Happy New Year Lori and may it be filled with only joyful things. I so look forward to all your blog posts and anticipate another wonderful year ahead of us. I am so excited about the two hops coming up. Feel better soon!

Happy New Year Lori. You are so amazing - what you get accomplished even through your discomfort! My cousins have every version of TP, and it's tradition that we play at least one game on Christmas Eve ~ always fun.Wishing you lots of pain free days in 2013....

I am laughing at all your "creepy elves" and so glad that none of my grandsons asked for one. Instead, an ugly ogre who is lots of fun. What a lovely fun holiday you had! Thanks for sharing it all through tose great pictures. Here's to a fulfilling New Year for you and yours.

Happy New Year Lori! Glad you're getting the pain meds you need - hopefully it will help a great deal and you can find some comfort this year!! I love the pictures, thanks for sharing. And your crocheted blanket is awesome - love the colors. One of my goals this year is to learn to crochet and to knit and also this little thing of knitting with a 'knook' that I found - I want to make a ton of scarves!! ;-) Have a great week and Happy 2013!!

Looks like a beautiful Christmas. My son wanted that Lego set too but we said he had to be 9 first like on the box. My thrift store always has Trivial Pursuit in some version for sale at $.50. Yes that is right! Seems like a very popular game and my family has played it for years too.